Abstract
Artists' studio estates are a particular kind of cultural heritage. Also known as fonds d'ateliers, such collections designate objects and items related to an artist's creative practice and forming the content of the studio that have been left at the artist's death. In addition to unfinished and/or unsold works, fonds d'ateliers may contain sketches and other preparatory works in different media, such as plaster models in the sculptor's studio. As testimonies of artists' processes, such collections can thus provide important information for the understanding and interpretation of their work as a whole. Historical sculptors' estates are often poorly preserved and lack any vision regarding their management. There is little knowledge available in Belgium and internationally that can help collection institutions to appropriately understand the specific history, materiality and museological potential of such studio collections, and to develop informed management strategies concerning the conservation and valorisation of this heritage. The most pressing research questions that arise are the following:
1. How and why were historical fonds d'ateliers of sculptors preserved and musealised?
2. What precise traces do such collections bear of an artist's creative process, and which role can 3D imaging play in revealing these?
3. What is the heritage significance of these collections, and how can they be valorised?
In order to answer these questions, this research project focuses on the studio collections of nineteenth-century sculptors in Belgium, and more specifically on their most fragile assets, namely their plaster models. The research aims to reconstruct the unique history of sculptors' fonds d'ateliers in Belgian collections, map their material condition and the creative properties via 3D imaging techniques and (digitally enhanced) visual analysis, and identify their significance in order to formulate concrete suggestions for their future valorisation. Providing a test case for new digital methods to analyse sculpture, the research will, on the one hand, contribute to the broader revaluation of works in plaster, a movement which has so far mainly focused on reproductive casts after the antique, while generally neglecting the specific context, status and challenges of sculptors' models. On the other hand, the project will contribute to the development of novel valorisation strategies tailored to the specific needs and potential of the fonds d'ateliers that particularly revalue their position in artistic practice. Placing special emphasis on the processual and creative character of this heritage, the research ties in with broader debates on dynamic heritage and activating museum practice.
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